Late 18th C. Stiegel-type Flip Glass

Collectors and admirers of the beautiful form known as the flip glass surely must be struck by the jarring contradiction between this graceful, delicately wrought vessel and the spicy beer-and-spirits beverage with which it is associated. To create the necessary froth for the ruddy brew called flip that was popular from the second half of the 17th century until about 1810, early Americans would heat a poker red-hot and plunge it into mugs of flip.

Judging from early records, drinkers of 200 years ago may not have known this tumbler by the name collectors later gave it. Back then, a flip glass probably held a much less hazardous drink such as sangaree or lemonade if it held anything at all. Flip glasses were often commissioned as presentation pieces and were kept on display as evidence of the social and economic position of their owners. Most flip glasses are large, holding up to a quart of liquid or even more, and glass artists didn t hesitate to display their delightful and considerable talents on these generous surfaces.

The color of the top picture accurately represents the glass while I have inserted a paper into the glass and colored it to show the decoration which is Germanic (Pennsylvania Dutch) in origin and composed of patterns we find on Fracturs and Samplers from Pennsylvania.

  It is most likely from Henry William Stiegel's American Flint Glass Works in Manheim, Pennsylvania, c. 1770-1774. He was also known as Baron Von Stiegel, a title he affected and came to be known as during his colorful life.  Copper wheel engraved, it is perhaps the most prolifically decorated Flip we have seen and it's in marvelous condition, 7-3/4" high and 6" in diameter at the top.

R09K12883

Questions?  Ask the Ferret!